Of course, when the world got wind of what Jay-Z and Beyonce named their baby girl, all kinds of conspiracy theories abounded: spell Blue Ivy Carter backward and you’ve got the Latin translation of Lucifer’s daughter; Blue is Jay-Z’s favorite color; Ivy is synonymous with the Roman numeral for the number 4—IV—which is a significant number to the singer and her rapper husband, both born on the 4th (September, December) and married on April 4th (4/4). To date, neither have given any explanation for why they chose baby girl’s name, but Beyonce gave some hints into her passion for the word “Blue” on her Tumblr page recently when she posted this lovely piece from cultural historian Rebecca Solnit’s memoir, A Field Guide To Getting Lost.

I’ve known folk in my family who were nicknamed “Blue,” but for reasons that weren’t anywhere near as beautiful as this. Mostly, it was a reference to their skin color—the deepest of dark brown, or, “blue black,” as they used to call it when I was little. The nickname “Red” held similar meaning, reserved for “red bones,” or people with lighter skin or hair. These days, it would be considered an insult but back then, it was what it was—a nickname that stuck. What a lovely way, then, for Beyonce to pay tribute to Blue Ivy’s name by shouting out Solnit’s lovely meditation on the color. Makes me love the name Blue Ivy even more.